My blog stat info showed a reader coming from a site I didn't recognize, so I followed the link, and lo and behold! New friend!

My blog stat info also showed this link. Hmmm. Also mysterious. What the heck could that be?

Ah, yes! The cat scratching box people!

You may recall, if you are a regular here Chez Beet, that about a month ago I wrote and posted this entry about how happy I was I found these cardboard boxes for cats to scratch on since I had been bringing them back from the USSA in my suitcase.

Go click the link and read it again.

Go on.

I'll wait.

[drums fingers]

Didja read what I wrote?

Now, if you can read Russian, this is how what I wrote got translated into Russian:

"What does it say? What does it say?" I asked The Spouse. I wanted to see how The Expatresse translated into Russian.

The Spouse dutifully took the Russian text and translated it back into English for me. Here is what the good people who visit the Kogtedralka web site think I wrote:

My husband and I live in Ohio.

Our beloved cat uses the cardboard cat scratcher “Catoslav.” The veterinarian recommended us to acquire just this kind of cat scratcher in a special drugstore where you can buy them for a better price of $43 (about 1300 rubles), as the Catoslav is more expensive in other places. In order to get to this drugstore, I had to spend hours on the road and the main problem was that I used up a whole weekend day.

Recently, I was in Moscow.

It was fantastic!! I discovered that a similar cardboard cat scratcher that my American cat could not imagine living without is produced in Russia and is sold in Moscow stores under the name Kogtedralka Domashnyaya.

To get to the pet shop didn’t take long. Five stops on the Metro and one transfer, and then a couple of blocks on foot.

I bought this cat scratcher for 250 rubles ($8.4) and returned home.

When I opened the package, I saw the website where these cardboard cat scratchers are made. I went to that sight and saw some really interesting videos. I recommend them – watch them all!

One video about a Russian lady was especially funny. Her name is Svetlana and she has seven (SEVEN!!) cats: Fluffy, Squash-shaped, Kissy, Gypsy, and their friends and it showed their furniture, walls and curtains.

When Svetlana gives her wards the Kogtedralka Domashnyaya cat scratcher, they literally throw themselves on her, tussle all over each other, and get in a line. The other cat scratchers (rope ones and carpet ones) were left folded in the closet.

Now Svetlana can spend her savings on new upholstery for her chair and her free time for herself (going to the beauty parlor).